Assisted Suicide Laws:
Doctor Shopping is Real and Deadly

Kate Cheney
Kate Cheney, an 85-year-old dementia patient, requested assisted suicide drugs and was originally denied by her physician, but her daughter shopped for a doctor until one wrote the prescription. The second physician ordered a psychiatric evaluation which found that Kate was not competent to make the decision, so she was sent to yet another psychologist who deemed she was. The second psychologist noted the possibility of coercion by the daughter, but Kate received the prescription regardless and died. In 2009, a leading proponent organization facilitates 57 of the 59 assisted suicide deaths in Oregon.*
*Stevens, Concentration of Oregon’s Assisted Suicide Prescriptions & Deaths from a small number of Prescribing Physicians.